Another fashion victim falls after tough Christmas for retailers
First it was Esprit, then Roger David, now another fashion chain has fallen victim to the tough retail environment, putting 500 jobs at risk.
Business
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A tough retail environment has claimed a new fashion victim with menswear chain Ed Harry collapsing following a poor Christmas, putting close to 500 jobs at risk.
Accounting firm KPMG today announced it had been appointed voluntary administrator of the retail chain.
KPMG will launch a clearance sale of stock.
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Ed Harry operates 87 stores across Australia, including 15 in Victoria, and employs 498 staff.
Its head office is located in Adelaide.
The menswear chain was founded in 1993.
It fell into voluntary administration in early 2011 with a network which covered 130 stores.
It was bought and relaunched later that year by Specialty Men’s Apparel with a network spanning 78 stores.
Specialty Men’s Apparel managing director David Clark said attempts to attract new sources of funding to revive and grow the chain had failed.
“Competition both in local bricks and mortar and online has been fierce in our sector for some time now,” Mr Clark said on Tuesday.
“The directors had been exploring options for funding to enable Ed Harry to continue to compete and grow, however to this point have been unsuccessful. Today is a difficult day for all our hardworking employees and loyal customers.”
KPMG partner Brendan Richards said a poor Christmas trading period had been the final straw for Ed Harry.
“Like many other Australian retailers, after a strong period of growth, it has faced a challenging environment over the past 12 months — and a particularly tough Christmas sales period,” Mr Richards said.
“It has also become clear that shopping centre footfall has been significantly weaker than expected.”
Mr Richards said the chain will trade as normal and administrators will explore all options, including a sale of the business.
Gift cards will be honoured for one month.
The collapse of Ed Harry comes one day after Wesfarmers warned sales had slumped at Kmart over Christmas.
Kmart has traditionally been one of Wesfarmers best performing retail businesses, notching up year after year of sales growth.
A slew of the nation’s best-known fashion brands have run into trouble as they confront highly successful international retailers, the rise of online shopping, high rents and changing fashion tastes.
Esprit, Marcs, David Lawrence, Pumpkin Patch, Payless Shoes, Herringbone, Rhodes & Beckett, Oroton, Katies, Millers and Rivers have either collapsed or undergone restructures over the past two and a half years.
Department store chains Myer and David Jones are struggling, while fast-fashion invaders Zara, Uniqlo and Hennes and Mauritz trading as H&M are pulling in more than $800 million in combined annual sales, having only arrived this decade.
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